tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8139998.post5008252763769030177..comments2015-01-05T18:11:58.924-05:00Comments on Media Law: Did UMass Trustees Violate Open Meeting Law?Robert Ambrogihttps://plus.google.com/108930183343435977664noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8139998.post-14439733322591625652011-04-26T00:07:58.102-04:002011-04-26T00:07:58.102-04:00The open meeting law states that most of the meeti...The open meeting law states that most of the meetings to determine a government decision have to take place in public. It also says that the meeting can only be private if it is an &quot;executive decision&quot;. UMass Trustees did not meet for that purpose so in that case, I believe that they are Violating the Open Meeting Law. In a case that took place in New Orleans, two city council members were charged for emailing each other illegally. For this they went to court. The trial court believed that the first amendment did not cover their actions but the Appellate court thought otherwise. The case was trying to decide if the private meeting is covered under the first amendment and if the open meeting law was Unconstitutional. The decision was that the law is constitutional but only by a small degree. The Open Meeting Law is an exception to the first amendment in how it prohibits two persons to talk in private. So for this reason, it needs to be more clear in how many exceptions it has. This means if any two or more persons talk about a government decision, it needs to be in public unless it is an executive decision. If this is not the case, then it should be a violation of the Open meeting Law.Warren Smythenoreply@blogger.com